Activation of erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular receptor A2 attenuates cell adhesion of human fallopian tube epithelial cells via focal adhesion kinase dephosphorylation

Tyrosine kinase receptor erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular receptor A2 (EphA2) and its predominant ligand EphrinA1 have been studied extensively for their roles of mediating cell adhesion in epithelial cells. However, EphA2 signaling in human fallopian tube epithelial cells is poorly understood. In this study, primary cultured fallopian tube epithelial cells were used as a model treated with EphrinA1-Fc or IgG-Fc (control), to explore the role of EphA2 signal and its network involved in the regulation of cell adhesion of tubal epithelia cells. The activation of EphA2 and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) was evaluated by western blotting assay in the cultured fallopian tube epithelia cells, of which the cell adhesion activity was determined by MTT assay. A significantly negative correlation was found between phosphorylated-EphA2 (Pho-EphA2) and phosphorylated-FAK (Pho-FAK) after exposure to EphrinA1-Fc (P = 0.000; r = −0.848). EphrinA1-Fc increased Pho-EphA2 and reduced Pho-FAK in seconds, with the apex level of Pho-EphA2 and the nadir level of Pho-FAK detected at the same time (10 min). Cell adhesion of the cultured cells supplemented with EphrinA1-Fc appeared to be weaker than that of the controls at the later time points of the treatment (from 30 to 120 min) (P < 0.05). Taken together, the EphrinA1 addition directly induces an elevated Pho-EphA2 accompanied by a decreased Pho-FAK in human fallopian tube epithelia cells. Furthermore, activation of EphA2 participates in the regulation of fallopian tube cell adhesion via FAK dephosphorylation.